The Week Ahead At Cal State Northridge ...

The Week Ahead ...
Matador spirit heads to Florida ... Bob Vazquez, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, offers his weekly insights on the accomplishments of the teams, coaches, and student-athletes who compete for Cal State Northridge.

Cheerleader Chatter ...
Back in early December, we reported that the Cal State Northridge Cheerleading Squad had qualified to compete at the Universal Cheer Association's College Cheerleading National Championships in Orlando, Florida ... At the time, additional money was needed to make the trip a reality ... And that dream has come true thanks to various fundraisers during the past six months and substantial financial assistance from Associated Students, Inc. at Cal State Northridge ... The CSUN Cheerleading Squad is heading to Florida for the competition (Jan. 16-19) at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex ... It is the first time that CSUN will be competing ... Nineteen members of the team will be making the trip ... More than 50 universities will be represented, but only three schools from California (Cal State Northridge, San Diego State and Sacramento State) ... Top finishers will have their routines aired on ESPN starting in February ... The CSUN Cheerleading Squad practices three days a week, participates at numerous Matador athletic events, and at more than 40 campus events throughout the year.

Matador Memo ...
Gigantic kudos to the nationally-ranked Matador men's volleyball team ... Following last season in which the Matadors were ranked #1 for most of the latter part of the year, and chalked up a school record 23 wins, head coach Jeff Campbell had some work to do after several of his top players graduated ... So what does he do? ... Campbell starts the 2009 regular season, ranked fifth in the nation, by taking the Matadors to the prestigious UCSB Invitational, beats powerful and #2 ranked UCLA in the tournament opener, beats top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals, and then beats another powerful Pac-10 team, the Stanford Cardinal, in the championship match ... It's a big deal when a Big West school beats a Pac-10 school in any sport, and Cal State Northridge beat TWO Pac-10 teams in the same weekend ... Eric Vance, a first team All-American, tallied 60 kills in three matches to win tournament MVP honors ... Junior Mike Gaudino added all-tournament honors to his resume ... The team's winning, exciting style of play last year translated into record breaking crowds to The Matadome ...The home opener is Jan. 23 (7:00 p.m.) against UC Santa Barbara ... But first, two huge matches at UCLA on Wednesday (Jan. 14, 7:00 p.m.) and on Friday (Jan. 16, 7:00 p.m.) at UC Irvine to open the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) season.